English Soccer Fans Abandoning Premier League for Lower-Priced Bundesliga

Achtung, Bundesliga supporters! The next time you try to chat with the dude sitting next to you, he might be an Englishman.

Richard Sharp of The Guardian writes that fans of the some of the Premier League's top clubs have gotten so disgusted with the rising cost of going to a match that they're taking their money abroad. It seems when you take into account the cost of tickets, transportation and refreshments, traveling to Germany from London is cheaper than traveling to Stamford Bridge.

Indeed, Premier League ticket prices the cheapest ticket at Stamford Bridge for a league match is £35 (about $70), while average tickets for teams like Borussia Dortmund and Bayer Leverkusen are a mere €8 ($12.50). What's more, English fans seem to like the atmosphere at Bundesliga matches better.

"The experience was like going back in time to the terraces of the 70s. You are allowed to stand up and smoke (cigarettes), and a bloke with a beer siphon attached to his back will happily refill your glass for £1 a pint."

Standing-room terraces were banned from English soccer after the Hillsborough Disaster in 1989, when 96 Liverpool fans were crushed to death.

This backlash against the Premier League might have something to do with the fact that ticket prices are going up 7.2% next season, more than twice the rate of inflation. Much of that cost has gone toward the skyrocketing salaries of players and their agents, which are rising much faster than ticket prices. As a result, a lot of clubs are gambling on success and finding themselves with huge operating losses.

Such was the case with Leeds United, which took out loans in 2001 based on future Champions League success. When it failed to reach the Champions League in 2002, it could not repay those loans, which started in a downward spiral that found the insolvent club restructuring its debts multiple times until it ended up beginning last season in third-tier League One with a 15-point deduction for irregular finances. Leeds fought back to get into the promotion playoffs, but the club lost the final will remain in League One next season.

Fans are clearly upset with these developments. Rising ticket prices stemming from Malcolm Glazer's leveraged takeover of Manchester United caused some disgruntled supporters to break from the club and form F.C. United of Manchester, a semipro club that currently plays in a league about six levels below the Premier League. F.C. United has won promotion three times in three years, though, and more supporters are getting behind the club's rejection of outright commercialism in English soccer.

Commercialism still runs rampant in the Premier League, though, and UEFA boss Michel Platini may be just as tired of it as the fans. He's attempting to institute a continent-wide salary cap in European soccer -- perhaps an attempt to save free-spending clubs from themselves. Naturally, the Premier League has come out against the proposal. The question now is whether the league's actions will result in even more fans coming out against them and looking to foreign leagues instead.